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Source:Cambridge, MA CoT signing, 18 January 2003 - report by Tallis
Cambridge, MA CoT signing 18 January 2003 - report by Tallis report from rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Hello, I don't frequent newsgroups anymore, but RJ came by the Harvard COOP last night and I thought I'd tell you guys what I heard. Apologies if all this is old news; I've noticed other people have posted messages about his signings elsewhere, and they're probably a bit more substantive. Anyway: * First, he began pronouncing some random names from the books. The ones I remember: Ice-Sedai; Thal-ah-rhan-rayad (pronounced as though he was choking on something); Sahn-chan (with the "a" homophonic in both syllables); Say-deen; Say-dahr. * RJ then announced that someone had figured out who had killed Asmodean using only the clues found in the books including and preceding the character's death. Give me a break; one person figures it out, and he calls it "obvious" (at least according to the FAQ)? Agh. I really don't think it's Graendal anymore, considering the tremendous influx of theories of her culpability in the past X years. You'd think RJ would have commented on *that* several books/years ago..? Other "revelations": * Saidar would have definitely been tainted had female channelers participated in the Sealing. * There are many clues as to Mesaana's identity, enough that we should figure it out before CoT. He basically said that he'd full-out reveal her in upcoming books, though: "...and if you still don't know, well, you'll find out later." * Ah, speaking of which: "Two more books." * Rand has no direct connection with the Creator. The Creator is completely removed from the world; aside from ... creating ... the Pattern, he does nothing else whatsoever to influence anything. (I'm uncertain how this fits with the ending of EotW.) * RAFO regarding Moraine. * There are no formal educational systems; everything is -- excuse the obvious -- informal, but somewhat successful. All right, take care all. http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan/msg/286bf41ac5baa455 ---- From another post in the thread: Ah, a couple more points I'd forgotten: * He bases his female characters after his wife. (The audience laughed a bit, and a couple of us wondered just how dense and imperious that woman must be...) * I'm sure I misheard, but I could have sworn he talked about writing *five* prequels. Again, though, I'm uncertain. * He had always planned on killing Sammael per Mashadar; his death was not determined after the ambiguous ending of that book. RJ said something along the lines of: "Yes, I know it wasn't with trumpets and fanfare to Sammael's death; but he deserved it. He was a louse, and he got a louse's death. He was killed by an enemy he wasn't paying attention to. He lived like a louse, and he died like a louse." Yes, he said "louse" that many times, if not more. You'd think Sammael had personally wronged RJ, sheesh -- he sounded pretty impassioned. Then again, it could simply be his exasperation with people refusing to accept that Sammael died. * RJ read the Encylopedia Brittanica numerous times as a child; he claims that's the crux of his education. And that is that. Take care all. http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan/msg/4832de53cd6390b1 Category:Conversations with Robert Jordan Category:Reports from Fans